


Necessary Evil

by WonderTwinC



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-11
Updated: 2012-09-11
Packaged: 2017-11-14 00:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderTwinC/pseuds/WonderTwinC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She knows the stories, the rumors and the legends surrounding this man, having been told every single one by her father as a child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Necessary Evil

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to proof this but I probably missed things.

“Running from something, Your Majesty?”

 

She barely has time to pull back on the reins and her steed rears, balancing preciously upon its hind legs for a handful of heartbeats before its front hooves hit solid ground, pawing and pounding vigorously at the dirt in agitation. Another gentle tug of the reins and he stills completely, snorting loudly in the sudden silence. At first she had been afraid that one of her husband’s men had managed to find her, but upon closer inspection Regina realizes that what she had thought a man to be something else, something with skin that glitters in the sparse sunlight, flickering between hues of green and gold and silver.

 

He, for with his voice and his face she is at least certain of that, is clothed in leather and dragon hide with a twisted smile, looking small from the back of her horse. When she doesn’t speak he giggles, high pitched and mocking. He claps his hands together and steps forward and it is all Regina can do to keep her horse steady in his presence. She holds tight to the reins, “How do you know who I am?”

 

“Now, now, is that any way to treat your savior, dearie?” he giggles again and feigns an elaborate bow, his voice just as high and mocking as his laughter, “Rumpelstiltskin, at your service.”

 

She knows the stories, the rumors and the legends surrounding this man, having been told every single one by her father as a child. Even without them, Regina believes she would be wary of this creature and his power. Just like with her mother she can feel it surrounding him and tainting him, the raw intensity of the magic pressing against her senses, suffocating her. “I didn’t call for you.”

 

Rumpelstiltskin lifts his head and smiles, showing a row of dirty, yellowing teeth. “I know a desperate soul when I see one, dearie, and you are perhaps the most desperate one of all.”

 

Something in his dark, murky eyes beckons to her, sings her from the horses back like the song of a siren. His smile only grows as he looks up at her, waiting until stands just in front of him before he moves. Rumpelstiltskin does not move from his bow as he stares at her face, his voice a whisper that surrounds hers, “I can make you a deal, dearest, one that you’d not regret.”

 

“And the consequences?” she meets his eyes and he bows even lower, not quiet hiding his face from her view. When he chuckles it is a dark sound and behind her the horse whinnies and stamps the ground, backing away but not running, feeling something she herself can’t as Rumpelstiltskin trains his muddy eyes upon the ground.

 

“Just a trifle, really,” his magic envelops her, caressing along her skin like she imagines a lover would, sending sparks down her spine to leave a pleasurable warmth low in her stomach. She barely stifles a small gasp at the suddenness of it all but his gratification is easy to see in the way he smiles, feral and indulgent as his words wrap around her, “It could all be yours, dear one,” he straightens in the slightest, facing her, staring up into her face, “all of this precious, precious power at your fingertips.”

 

Regina licks at her lips, still feeling the fire of his magic, the allure of it curving along her spine. Her mother’s magic has never felt so to her, but Rumpelstiltskin’s has spread want through her like a wildfire, encompassing her until she feels overwhelmed, flooded with too much but not nearly enough. The words to decline rest on the top of her tongue, wary after all she has seen and endured in just a few months at the hand of King Leopold and years before that as her mother’s trophy. As if he knows what she’s thinking, what she needs to give in, he wrinkles his nose and grins, “Fear not, dear queen, it’s nothing more than a wish and my needs are,” he giggles quietly as though leading into a joke, referencing a tiny space with his fingers before he rubs them together, “small.”

 

His eyes never leave her face, “All you must do, dearie, is ask yourself a simple question.”

 

Regina feels her chest tighten, the air leaving her lungs as his expression twists. He is cruel and dark, but she is not afraid. Her heart races for him, for this, and he grins, “How far are you willing to go?” She sees the blackness of his heart, the nasty and depraved. She sees him as he is meant to be, unpleasant, dreadful, _ugly_ but when he holds out his hand she takes it, feeling his rough skin against her palm and his black nails as they dig into her skin.

 

“Do we have a deal, dearie?”

 

“Yes,” she whispers the words, her lips curving into a cherry red smile. His power swells within her, swarming her senses, twisting her dress around her legs and he giggles, clasping his hands together with a shudder.

 

“And thus the deal, your majesty, is struck.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the recent OUAT promo.


End file.
